[Habibfazil]

"... other options may be better". It would be interesting to hear what the City thinks is better, and on what basis is something considered better than others. What are the benchmarks?

what would have been better is to never stop enforcing the existing laws and bylaws on the line/centres/busses, stop with the special treatment and unequal enforcement. People avoiding fares is less of a problem being a few time issue vs scaring aware of potential/existing riders for life...

 

[Gronk!]

Peace officers can easily walk around with validators and verify that riders have paid. A day like today would be GREAT for this as you will absolutely have people taking the train to the hockey game and stealing rides. I'd prefer if all events at Rogers and Commonwealth included the fare to avoid this theft.

This isn't a concept that's new, or overbearing. This is exactly how it works in Frankfurt. Broken windows theory is real, and it's not only "sketchy" people that contribute to disorder.

When I took the LRT to the Edmonton Expo on Saturday, there were peace officers with Arc scanners at the Coliseum Station. I showed them my Arc card and it took just a couple of seconds for them to scan it and send me on my way.

 

[David A]

"... other options may be better". It would be interesting to hear what the City thinks is better, and on what basis is something considered better than others. What are the benchmarks?

This seems like the sort of ambiguous answer given by people who don't have any other better ideas, but don't want to admit that.

 

[Habibfazil]

When I took the LRT to the Edmonton Expo on Saturday, there were peace officers with Arc scanners at the Coliseum Station. I showed them my Arc card and it took just a couple of seconds for them to scan it and send me on my way.

I've never seen more than a gaggle of 6 at any 1 time on the trains (all of them) and all 6 at one station, none at the others as I passed thru or could see thru the car windows.

Did see a youth and a social worker paired up with a real cop though at churchill

 

[TAS]

This seems like the sort of ambiguous answer given by people who don't have any other better ideas, but don't want to admit that.

Actually it wasn't really ambiguous - in fact it was pretty clearly stated in the article for safety:

"... adding more transit peace officers or improving their training and authorities so officers can make arrests or carry Tasers."

And from Sohi
“We’ve got to continue to invest in security. So hiring more transit police officers, (having) police officers regularly patrolling LRT stations and bus stations, and giving more authority to transit police officers where they are better trained — I think those are the things that we need to explore,” he told reporters.

 

[David A]

Actually it wasn't really ambiguous - in fact it was pretty clearly stated in the article for safety:

"... adding more transit peace officers or improving their training and authorities so officers can make arrests or carry Tasers."

And from Sohi
“We’ve got to continue to invest in security. So hiring more transit police officers, (having) police officers regularly patrolling LRT stations and bus stations, and giving more authority to transit police officers where they are better trained — I think those are the things that we need to explore,” he told reporters.

Well as they say the definition of insanity is doing more of the same and expecting a different result. Heaven forbid trying to restrict access mainly to regular paying customers, rather than giving easy access to ever one with a social or behavioral problem and spending a lot of resources trying to clean up the messes after.

 

[TAS]

Well as they say the definition of insanity is doing more of the same and expecting a different result. Heaven forbid trying to restrict access mainly to regular paying customers, rather than giving easy access to ever one with a social or behavioral problem and spending a lot of resources trying to clean up the messes after.

In terms of restricting access with fare gates as a pilot at two stations (Belvedere and Churchill) - one thought of several in opposition was the impact would be compromised because if somebody can't get on at Churchill, they can just get on at central, the bay or any number of stations and get into Churchill that way.

 

[dkazzed]

I thought the original plan was to only put fare gates at the underground stations. It would make sense to put them in any controlled access station, below or at grade. Most of the open-access high-floor stations feel safe anyway, Kingsway-RAH is probably the worst of all of them and it's not as bad as the underground stations. Or Belvedere and Coliseum.

 

[IanO]

Well done!
---

Stadium Station redesign sees calls for service drop by 50%

The old Stadium Station was consistently ranked among the top five stations on the LRT system that dominated calls for service to the ETS control centre. Those calls could be for security incidents, disorder, crime, or trespassing.

Redevelopment of the station was completed in May 2023. Hotton-MacDonald said the station has seen a 50% reduction in calls for service since 2019. It now places in the bottom five of a list that it sometimes used to top. This data doesn’t include 9-1-1 calls.

Stadium Station redesign sees calls for service drop by 50%

Edmonton's head of transit said a redesign that emphasizes visibility has turned one of the least safe LRT stations in the city into one of the safest.

edmonton.taproot.news

 

[Gronk!]

Not quite LRT-related but close

Police seek public’s assistance identifying suspect involved in assault on ETS driver

 

[Kosy123]

I'm seeing EPS quite often in the downtown stations in the past few weeks, either patrolling or responding to something.

Corona had some homeless folks lounging around. I've seen it before but Peace Officers probably haven't gotten there yet, I've seen them deal with that quite fast in the past. Security was there talking to them though. Increased Peace Officer and EPS visibility does help alleviate ridership anxieties.

We do desperately need Boyle Street up and running soon. As cynical as it sounds, if you want a "out of sight, out of mind" solution to visible homelessness in transit and the core, then funding spaces like the new Boyle Street facility need to happen. Hope Mission opening something up in Dovercourt helps too.

 

[David A]

I had recently seen a homeless gang back at Corona and they already had those nice new doors just put in already jammed open somehow ... sigh ...

Their favorite hangout spot does block access to the elevators for those who need it for accessibly.

I didn't see any EPS or Peace Officers there, but I just went by quickly in the evening. So hopefully this has been dealt with now.

 

[Greenspace]

Boyle Street is part of the solution. Recent issues (my guess) is related to change in weather and people trying to get into somewhere warmer.

 

[David A]

Boyle Street is part of the solution. Recent issues (my guess) is related to change in weather and people trying to get into somewhere warmer.

This has been going on for years and years. Why the heck aren't there shelter spaces open throughout the day?

Edmonton's downtown should not continue to be the dumping ground for the social problems the Government of Alberta can not take responsibility for or properly manage.

 

[The_Cat]

Perhaps when homelessness is more prevalent in Alberta's smaller communities, there will be a strategy to reduce homelessness.